Chapter 2: The Wedding
The Carlyle home was beautiful with guests showing up in their black stretch limos, driving up the road and stopping at black gates that had the Carlyle family crest before the gates opened and the limos would drive through.
Upstairs in his office, Edwin Carlyle, Camilla's father, was pouring a drink into a glass, and offering the glass to Mr. Collins. "Thank you, Edwin," Mr. Collins told the man. Edwin poured himself a drink. Mr. Collins held his glass up. "A toast to your family, now that it's growing a little bit bigger today," he commented.
"I'll drink to that," Edwin answered.
"Ready to meet the harpy?" he asked.
"Edwin, come now, it can't be that bad?"
"Reserve your judgement until you've actually met her, Allen. You should hear her talking to her daughter Taylor. She's a wonderful young woman, but in the eyes of her mother, she can do nothing right. Though Camilla says her plus one should stir up some fun if he actually shows up. Carol barely met him, but hated him at first sight." Edwin explained.
"Oh, he's showing up. Don't tell anyone, but he's actually a friend of Wes's." Mr. Collins commented.
Edwin looked surprised as the two men went downstairs to join the guests. "Really?" Edwin asked, "According to Carol the young man looked 'homeless'." Now Mr. Collins was laughing.
"Eric is anything BUT homeless," he answered.
Edwin couldn't help but be impressed. "Eric's practically another son of mine, Wes practically drags him to our home at least once a week for dinner as much as Eric hates it," Mr. Collins commented. Suddenly, Edwin's piercing blue eyes went wide.
"Well, don't look now, but here comes the harpy," Edwin commented.
Mr. Collins looked up as Carol walked over. The man couldn't believe a woman would be tacky to wear a dress that sparkled more than the lights in Vegas. "You must be, Allen Collins," she commented, "I'm Carol Earhardt, Henry's mother." Mr. Collins shook the woman's hand.
"Pleasure," Mr. Collins answered.
Carol looked around the party. "I heard your son was on the invitation as well," she commented.
"He was, but unfortunately Wesley had a prior engagement," Mr. Collins replied, grateful for Edwin's warning.
"But we send the invitations out early to prevent prior engagements already being made." Carol insisted.
"The date to the opening of the new orphanage was set 2 years prior when the plans were being drawn up." Mr. Collins explained to the woman.
Carol frowned, seeing that she wasn't going to win this one. "Well, that's a shame, I was really hoping to introduce him to Taylor," she commented.
"Maybe next time," Mr. Collins answered, "Oh, excuse me."
Mr. Collins made his way towards Camilla's mother. "Rachel!" he called out. Rachel turned around and smiled.
"Allen, thank you so much for coming!" Rachel said smiling, embracing the man.
"Camilla is a beautiful bride," he answered.
"It's hard to believe she's all grown up," Rachel commented tearfully.
Taylor was sipping on her champagne, watching her brother and new sister-in-law sway across the dance floor. She saw something out of her peripheral and looked over, what she saw almost made her drop her glass. "Myers?" she said in disbelief.
Eric looked at her and smirked. "Hey, Earhardt, nice dress," he commented. Taylor looked at the dress and let out a sigh.
"Yeah, sure, if you're a fan of lace," she replied as she fixed the invisible wrinkles in the skirt.
The Quantum Ranger's eyes were trained on the blond as she put her empty glass on a tray before grabbing another one. "Besides what are you doing here? I told you not to come," she answered.
"No you told me I didn't have to come," he pointed out to her.
"Well, how did you find out where this place was?" she asked.
Eric gestured to Mr. Collins. "Mr. Collins was invited, plus even if not for him this wedding was plastered all over the newspapers. You can't help BUT know where it is," he replied. Looking over, he saw Carol staring with a glare. Walking up to Taylor, he moved in next to her. "How about, we piss your mom off with at least one dance?" he asked. Taylor looked over to see Carol glaring and smiled at Eric.
"You dance?" she asked.
"I went to the same prissy school as Wes. Etiquette was a mandatory class." He replied.
Now the former Wild Force Ranger was amused. "Alright, show me your moves then," she told him. Eric took Taylor out onto the dance floor and the next song started up. Taylor was pretty impressed; she was able to follow Eric's lead quite flawlessly.
"You should be looking like you're having fun than surprised that I'm even here, because your mom might think something's up," he commented, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Like I care what my mom thinks. My goal for tonight is to get drunk and forget all the guys she's been pushing my way." She answered.
"Well it's a good thing that Wes isn't here then," he commented.
Taylor couldn't help but feel relieved at that statement. "Good, because I'm sure my mom would've been insisting on us being matched up," she answered.
"What is it with that old bat and playing millionaire matchmaker?" he asked before he spun her in a circle.
"She believes that because she took care of us, it's our responsibility to meet and marry rich people and take care of her now," she replied.
Eric glanced at Carol, who was fuming and crossing her arms over her chest. He couldn't help but feel amused by the fact the woman reminded him of a pouting toddler. "She forced us into everything, etiquette classes, dance classes, beauty pageants," she ranted. Eric faltered at the last one.
"Wait, you were in beauty pageants?" he asked.
Taylor put on her fake best smile with her hands on her hip. "Miss Turtle Cove 1993," she said in her best fake valley girl voice. He just stared, she couldn't read his expression.
"I don't know whether to laugh or cringe," he admitted.
"Cringe, always cringe," she answered before they were dancing again, "My mom put all the money away for my big wedding day, but instead I pissed her off and donated all of it to a children's hospital."
Now he was smiling again, this sounded more like Taylor than being a beauty queen. "When she demanded to know why I did it, my answer was they needed it more than me," she added.
"Well, how thoughtful of you," he answered as the song ended.
"Yeah, sixteen years of beauty contests and beauty pageants and I hated every. Single. Minute," she added.
Eric gestured to the table and she nodded, following him through the crowd. "She got really mad when I joined the Air Force," she commented.
"It's an honorable job, it's why I started liking you in the first place," he answered as he handed her a glass of champagne.
Taylor rolled her eyes. "Trying to suck up to me now?" she asked.
"Nope, trying to see if you wanna escape this party and go have a few real drinks?" he replied.
The blond smiled and grabbed her bag. "Let's go," he told her. She grabbed his arm and they hurried out of the reception.
Carol had seen them leave and her eyes went wide. "George, why aren't you doing anything?" she demanded her husband. George Earhardt looked over and saw his daughter running out of the reception hall.
"She's twenty-seven, what's the problem?" he asked.
"The problem is our daughter is running off with a homeless person!" Carol answered before she started rushing through the crowd, "TAYLOR!"
Edwin and Mr. Collins watched Carol chase after the two of them. "This is probably the most eventful wedding reception I have ever been to," Mr. Collins commented.
Outside, Eric was pulling on his helmet when he grabbed his leather jacket off the back, handing it to her. "What's that for?" she asked.
"If I crash you're not going to rip yourself apart on the asphalt," he replied.
Taylor pulled the jacket on before grabbing the extra helmet, pulling it over her head. "TAYLOR!" Carol shouted as Eric started the bike. Taylor immediately jumped on the back with her arms around Eric's waist.
"Go, go!" she insisted.
Eric revved the bike, keeping one foot planted on the ground, the bike's tires shrieked on the blacktop. Bypassing all of the other cars that were parked around the bike. Revving the engine again, he sped down the hill right past Carol. "TAYLOR!" Carol screamed at her daughter.
Carol was fuming as Yvonne ran over to her mother. "The nerve of that girl, humiliating her brother on his special day," she hissed.
"She's selfish, momma," Yvonne answered.
Carol crossed her arms over her chest. "All that beauty wasted!" she exclaimed, before walking back into the reception. Yvonne stood there and glared at the direction her sister had gone before going back into the reception hall.